Despite losing several of their players from last year's 50-win club, the Nuggets plan to rely on proven fixtures such as Nene.

Sponsored Links

He spent three months in Lithuania during the NBA lockout, and while Lawson thinks he improved his ability to run the pick-and-roll and his step-back jump shot, the experience made the 23-year-old more appreciative of where he is now.

"We're spoiled over here compared to over there," says Lawson, who had an opt-out clause that allowed him to return to Denver. "I missed the private flights. When they wash your clothes over here, you get your own little bag and stuff like that. Over there you put (your clothes) all in a box and dump it out. You don't know whose drawers are for who. It's crazy."

After airing that dirty laundry, Lawson still looked puzzled when asked about the Nuggets (3-2). They feel like an afterthought in the Western Conference, but might be gaining notice after thumping the defending champion Dallas Mavericks 115-93 in their opener. After losing close on the road to the Los Angeles Lakers 92-89, the Nuggets returned home to beat them 99-90 Sunday.

"We're going to take it in stride and definitely prove a lot of people wrong," says Lawson, who scored a game-high 27 points vs. Dallas and had 17 points and 10 assists in the Lakers victory. "Everybody's got us last in the West or not even in the playoffs. We're going to make it happen. I've seen plenty of stuff people have said about us. NBA TV (analysts) said it's a rebuilding year."

But the team that won 50 games last season retained highly coveted free agent center Nene and free agent shooting guard Arron Afflalo. They still have small forward Danilo Gallinari, acquired veteran point guard Andre Miller to fill Felton's backup role and traded for small forward Corey Brewer and shooting guard Rudy Fernandez to bolster the bench.

"The only guy I don't think we're going to be able to fill for is Kenyon," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "Kenyon's individual defense, his knowledge of the game of basketball, his quarterbacking our defense — we probably don't have that guy.

"People have to understand J.R. was important to us but he was only a 15-to-20 minute player for us."

Gallinari, a 6-11 sharpshooter in his fourth season, is part of a starting frontline that includes 6-11 Nene and 7-1 Timofey Mozgov, who played sparingly as a rookie last year.

"I think I have to play the same way but my leadership has to step higher a little bit," Gallinari said. "I have the experience. I know the league better than other guys and I have an important role on this team."

He won an NBA championship with Dallas, but couldn't get consistent playing time.

"It was a weird year. It ended great, winning a championship, but it was kind of a messed up year for me," Brewer said. "I feel like I'm in a good place now. I get to start from scratch."

Karl can call on productive veteran power forwards Al Harrington and Chris Anderson from the bench, too, going as many as 10 or even 11 deep. The Nuggets may have six new players on the roster, but the core contributors have played together in past seasons. Harrington was averaging 15.4 points going into Monday's game.

"We're big, we're fast, we're small," Karl said. "We can play five guards. We're versatile. That's one thing I'm optimistic about. We're a team that has a lot of ways to play."

The identity of the Nuggets, the league's top scoring team last season at 107.5 points a game, wasn't expected to change much. They entered Monday averaging 104.4, second-best in the NBA.

"It's going to be the same," Lawson said. "You don't know who's going to go off. Nene could, me, Gallo or Arron or even one of the bench players like Rudy. We're definitely going to be a tough team because nobody is going to know where our points are coming from."

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted | Updated

USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.